Central Government make headway on key Officials GST issues

Central Government make headway on key Officials GST issues : On Thursday, the Central Government washed its hands off the CEA Arvind Subramanian report that standard rate for GST be at 17-18 per cent was based on old data of 2013.

Hasmukh Adhia who is Revenue Secretary said that today most of the goods are taxed around 27% and cautioned media against using 18 per cent as GST standard rate, calling it pre-mature.

Standard rate of GST is likely to be higher than 18 per cent. Mr Adhia said that withing 30 days, the Centre government is hopeful to get the approval of 16 states required for the President to notify GST council.

Revenue Secretary Adhia said that The calculation is based on taxable base of state and Centre as in the year 2013-14. We need to account for those changes which have happened in last two years.

On the basis of Mr Subramanian panel report, the Congress had been demanding a cap in the GST rate at 18 per cent in the bill. Mr Subramanian had given his report in December 2015 only.

Mr. Subramanian warned that At 27 per cent it is totally self-defeating…Up to 18-19 per cent there will be minimal impact on inflation and if it goes to 22 per cent there will be a few basis point increase.

Revenue Secretary Mr Adhia said that 85 per cent of the Centre’s revenue come from those items which are taxed at 12.5 per cent rate of excise duty. He also said that 62 per cent of VAT revenues for states is coming from their standard rates which is at present at 14.5 per cent.

Around 60,000 revenue officials of the central and state governments will be trained on GST laws. As per the detailed GST roll out road map prepared by Revenue Secretary Hasmukh Adhia. The framework of IT infrastructure will be ready by March 2017. A massive outreach and industry sensitization programme will also be carried out.

The training of the revenue officials on GST laws gets complete by December 2016. Goods and Service Tax Network will train the revenue officials on the related IT infrastructure by March 2017. GSTN is a non-government company set up by the Centre and states to provide shared IT services and framework to central government and state governments, tax payers and other stakeholders.

The IT network of the Central Board of Excise and Customs (CBEC), banks, RBI, state accounting authorities and states will be ready by December-end 2016. To make life easier in the new regime, the Revenue Department has said that no fresh registration will be needed for the existing customers or dealers.